A History of Indian Philosophy Volume 1

by Surendranath Dasgupta | 1922 | 212,082 words | ISBN-13: 9788120804081

This page describes the philosophy of does vaisheshika represent an old school of mimamsa?: a concept having historical value dating from ancient India. This is the third part in the series called the “the nyaya-vaisheshika philosophy”, originally composed by Surendranath Dasgupta in the early 20th century.

Part 3 - Does Vaiśeṣika represent an Old School of Mīmāṃsā?

The Vaiśeṣika is so much associated with Nyāya by tradition that it seems at first sight quite unlikely that it could be supposed to represent an old school of Mīmāṃsā, older than that represented in the Mīmāṃsā sūtras. But a closer inspection of the Vaiśeṣika sūtras seems to confirm such a supposition in a very remarkable way. We have seen in the previous section that Caraka quotes a Vaiśeṣika sūtra. An examination of Caraka’s Sūtrasthāna (1. 35-38) leaves us convinced that the writer of the verses had some compendium of Vaiśeṣika such as that of the Bhāṣāpariccheda before him. Caraka sūtra or kārikā (i. i. 36) says that the guṇas are those which have been enumerated such as heaviness, etc., cognition, and those which begin with the guṇa “para” (universality) and end with “prayatna” (effort) together with the sense-qualities (sārthā). It seems that this is a reference to some well-known enumeration.

But this enumeration is not to be found in the Vaiśeṣika sūtra (I. i. 6) which leaves out the six guṇas,

  1. heaviness (gurutva),
  2. liquidity (dravatva),
  3. oiliness (sneha),
  4. elasticity (saṃskāra),
  5. merit (dharma)
  6. and demerit (adharma);

in one part of the sūtra the enumeration begins with “para” (universality) and ends in “prayatna,” but buddhi (cognition) comes within the enumeration beginning from para and ending in prayatna, whereas in Caraka buddhi does not form part of the list and is separately enumerated. This leads me to suppose that Caraka’s sūtra was written at a time when the six guṇas left out in the Vaiśeṣika enumeration had come to be counted as guṇas, and compendiums had been made in which these were enumerated.

Bhāṣāpariccheda (a later Vaiśeṣika compendium), is a compilation from some very old kārikās which are referred to by Viśvanātha as being collected from “atisaṃkṣiptacirantanoktibhiḥ”—(from very ancient aphorisms[1]); Caraka’s definition of sāmānya and viśeṣa shows that they had not then been counted as separate categories as in later Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika doctrines; but though slightly different it is quite in keeping with the sort of definition one finds in the Vaiśeṣika sūtra that sāmānya (generality) and viśeṣa are relative to each other[2]. Caraka’s sūtras were therefore probably written at a time when the Vaiśeṣika doctrines were undergoing changes, and well-known compendiums were beginning to be written on them.

The Vaiśeṣika sūtras seem to be ignorant of the Buddhist doctrines. In their discussions on the existence of soul, there is no reference to any view as to non-existence of soul, but the argument turned on the point as to whether the self is to be an object of inference or revealed to us by our notion of “I.” There is also no other reference to any other systems except to some Mīmāṃsā doctrines and occasionally to Sāṃkhya. There is no reason to suppose that the Mīmāṃsā doctrines referred to allude to the Mīmāṃsā sūtras of Jaimini. The manner in which the nature of inference has been treated shows that the Nyāya phraseology of “pūrvavat” and “śesavat" was not known. Vaiśeṣika sūtras in more than one place refer to time as the ultimate cause[3]. We know that the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad refers to those who regard time as the cause of all things, but in none of the systems that we have can we trace any upholding of this ancient view[4]. These considerations as well as the general style of the work and the methods of discussion lead me to think that these sūtras are probably the oldest that we have and in all probability are pre-Buddhistic.

The Vaiśeṣika sūtra begins with the statement that its object is to explain virtue, “dharma.” This is we know the manifest duty of Mīmāṃsā and we know that unlike any other system Jaimini begins his Mīmāṃsā sūtras by defining “dharma.” This at first seems irrelevant to the main purpose of Vaiśeṣika, viz., the description of the nature of padārtha[5]. He then defines dharma as that which gives prosperity and ultimate good (nihśreyasa) and says that the Veda must be regarded as valid, since it can dictate this. He ends his book with the remarks that those injunctions (of Vedic deeds) which are performed for ordinary human motives bestow prosperity even though their efficacy is not known to us through our ordinary experience, and in this matter the Veda must be regarded as the authority which dictates those acts[6].

The fact that the Vaiśeṣika begins with a promise to describe dharma and after describing the nature of substances, qualities and actions and also the adṛṣṭa (unknown virtue) due to dharma (merit accruing from the performance of Vedic deeds) by which many of our unexplained experiences may be explained, ends his book by saying that those Vedic works which are not seen to produce any direct effect, will produce prosperity through adṛṣṭa, shows that Kaṇāda’s method of explaining dharma has been by showing that physical phenomena involving substances, qualities, and actions can only be explained up to a certain extent while a good number cannot be explained at all except on the assumption of adṛṣṭa (unseen virtue) produced by dharma.

The description of the categories of substance is not irrelevant, but is the means of proving that our ordinary experience of these cannot explain many facts which are only to be explained on the supposition of adṛṣṭa proceeding out of the performance of Vedic deeds. In V. i. 15 the movement of needles towards magnets, in V. ii. 7 the circulation of water in plant bodies, v. ii. 13 and IV. ii. 7 the upward motion of fire, the side motion of air, the combining movement of atoms (by which all combinations have taken place), and the original movement of the mind are said to be due to adṛṣṭa. In v. ii. 17 the movement of the soul after death, its taking hold of other bodies, the assimilation of food and drink and other kinds of contact (the movement and development of the foetus as enumerated in Upciskāra) are said to be due to adṛṣṭa.

Salvation (mokṣa) is said to be produced by the annihilation of adṛṣṭa leading to the annihilation of all contacts and non-production of rebirths. Vaiśeṣika marks the distinction between the dṛṣṭa (experienced) and the adṛṣṭa. All the categories that he describes are founded on dṛṣṭa (experience) and those unexplained by known experience are due to adṛṣṭa.

These are the acts on which depend all life-process of animals and plants, the continuation of atoms or the construction of the worlds, natural motion of fire and air, death and rebirth (vi. ii. 15) and even the physical phenomena by which our fortunes are affected in some way or other (V. ii. 2), in fact all with which we are vitally interested in philosophy. Kaṇāda’s philosophy gives only some facts of experience regarding substances, qualities and actions, leaving all the graver issues of metaphysics to adṛṣṭa. But what leads to adṛṣṭa?

In answer to this, Kaṇāda does not speak of good or bad or virtuous or sinful deeds, but of Vedic works, such as
holy ablutions (snāna),
fasting,
holy student life (brahmacarya),
remaining at the house of the teacher (gurukulavāsa),
retired forest life (vānaprastha),
sacrifice (yajña),
gifts (dāna),
certain kinds of sacrificial sprinkling and rules of performing sacrificial works according to the prescribed time of the stars,
the prescribed hymns (mantras) (VI. ii. 2).

He described what is pure and what is impure food, pure food being that which is sacrificially purified (VI. ii. 5) the contrary being impure; and he says that the taking of pure food leads to prosperity through adṛṣṭa. He also described how feelings of attachment to things are also generated by adṛṣṭa. Throughout almost the whole of VI. i Kaṇāda is busy in showing the special conditions of making gifts and receiving them. A reference to our chapter on Mīmāṃsā will show that the later Mīmāṃsā writers agreed with the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika doctrines in most of their views regarding substance, qualities, etc.

Some of the main points in which Mīmāṃsā differs from Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika are

  1. selfvalidity of the Vedas,
  2. the eternality of the Vedas,
  3. disbelief in any creator or god,
  4. eternality of sound (śabda),
  5. (according to Kumārila) direct perception of self in the notion of the ego.

Of these the first and the second points do not form any subject of discussion in the Vaiśeṣika. But as no Īśvara is mentioned, and as all adṛṣṭa depends upon the authority of the Vedas, we may assume that Vaiśeṣika had no dispute with Mīmāṃsā. The fact that there is no reference to any dissension is probably due to the fact that really none had taken place at the time of the Vaiśeṣika sūtras. It is probable that Kaṇāda believed that the Vedas were written by some persons superior to us (II. i. 18, VI. i. 1-2). But the fact that there is no reference to any conflict with Mīmāṃsā suggests that the doctrine that the Vedas were never written by anyone was formulated at a later period, whereas in the days of the Vaiśeṣika sūtras , the view was probably what is represented in the Vaiśeṣika sūtras.

As there is no reference to Īśvara and as adṛṣṭa proceeding out of the performance of actions in accordance with Vedic injunctions is made the cause of all atomic movements, we can very well assume that Vaiśeṣika was as atheistic or non-theistic as the later Mīmāṃsā philosophers. As regards the eternality of sound, which in later days was one of the main points of quarrel between the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika and the Mīmāṃsā, we find that in II. ii. 25-32, Kaṇāda gives reasons in favour of the non-eternality of sound, but after that from II. ii. 33 till the end of the chapter he closes the argument in favour of the eternality of sound, which is the distinctive Mīmāṃsā view as we know from the later Mīmāṃsā writers[7]. Next comes the question of the proof of the existence of self. The traditional Nyāya view is that the self is supposed to exist because it must be inferred as the seat of the qualities of pleasure, pain, cognition, etc.

Traditionally this is regarded as the Vaiśeṣika view as well. But in Vaiśeṣika III. ii. 4 the existence of soul is first inferred by reason of its activity and the existence of pleasure, pain, etc., in III. ii. 6-7 this inference is challenged by saying that we do not perceive that the activity, etc. belongs to the soul and not to the body and so no certainty can be arrived at by inference, and in III. ii. 8 it is suggested that therefore the existence of soul is to be accepted on the authority of the scriptures (āgama). To this the final Vaiśeṣika conclusion is given that we can directly perceive the self in our feeling as “I” (ahavi), and we have therefore not to depend on the scriptures for the proof of the existence of the self, and thus the inference of the existence of the self is only an additional proof of what we already find in perception as “I” (aham) (ill. ii. 10-18, also IX. i. 11).

These considerations lead me to think that the Vaiśeṣika represented a school of Mīmāṃsā thought which supplemented a metaphysics to strengthen the grounds of the Vedas.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Professor Vanamālī Vedāntatīrtha’s article in J. A.S.B., 1908.

[2]:

Caraka (1. 1. 33) says that sāmānya is that which produces unity and viśesa is that which separates. V. S. 11. ii. 7. Sāmānya and viśesa depend upon our mode of thinking (as united or as separate).

[3]:

Vaiśeṣika sūtra (11. ii. 9 and V. ii. 26).

[4]:

Śvetāśvatara I. i. 2.

[5]:

I remember a verse quoted in an old commentary of the Kalāpa Vyākaraṇa , in which it is said that the description of the six categories by Kanāda in his Vaiśeṣika sūtras , after having proposed to describe the nature of dharma, is as irrelevant as to proceed towards the sea while intending to go to the mountain Ilimavat (Himālaya).

Dharmaṃ vyākhyātukāmasya ṣaṭpadārthopavarṇanaṃ Himavadgantukāmasya sāgaragavi a nopamam.

[6]:

The sūtra “Tadvacanūd ānniāyasya prāmātiyam (1. i. 3 and X. ii. 9) has been explained by Upaskāra as meaning “The Veda being the word of īśvara (God) must be regarded as valid,” but since there is no mention of “Īśvara” anywhere in the text this is simply reading the later Nyāya ideas into the Vaiśesika. Sūtra X. ii. 8 is only a repetition of vi. ii. 1.

[7]:

The last two concluding sūtras n. ii- 36 and 37 are in my opinion wrongly interpreted by Śaṅkara Miśra in his Upaskāra (11. ii. 36 by adding an “api” to the sūtra and thereby changing the issue, and 11. ii. 37 by misreading the phonetic combination “samkhyābhāva” as Sāṃkhya and bhāva instead of Sāṃkhya and abhāva, which in my opinion is the right combination here) in favour of the non-eternality of sound as we find in the later Nyāya-Vaiśesika view.

Like what you read? Consider supporting this website: